DOE and The Appraisal Foundation Announce New Partnership to Focus on Energy Performance and Building Appraisals

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced a partnership with The Appraisal Foundation that will help expand access to energy efficiency and building performance information for commercial buildings and help American businesses to reduce energy waste. Under the new partnership, the Department of Energy and The Appraisal Foundation will work to ensure that appraisers nationwide have the information, practical guidelines, and professional resources they need to evaluate energy performance when conducting commercial building appraisals. This will help enable investors, building owners and operators, and others to accurately assess the value of energy efficiency as part of the building's overall appraisal.

Today's partnership will help to make sure that the market is equipped with the information it needs to make sure that the utility bill savings that come with building efficiency improvements are appropriately factored into the building's overall value. In conjunction with The Appraisal Foundation, DOE will develop information and educational tools relating to valuing green buildings based on the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice—the generally accepted standards for U.S. building appraisers. These tools and resources will help appraisers appropriately include energy performance and sustainability in valuations.

Under the partnership, the Department of Energy will also develop educational materials and create a database to provide appraisers with energy-savings data, federal green building programs and policies, and additional information on energy performance.